On this they agree: Denver should be kept whole. Pueblo needs to be with the San Luis Valley. Try to avoid splitting counties.

The 10-member legislative committee charged with redrawing congressional boundaries agreed Tuesday to try to put aside their party differences and draw, in public, new congressional boundaries.

Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, backed the idea of starting clean with a “white map” and adding suggestions from the five Republicans and five Democrats.

“No more going back to your hidey holes and drawing maps and bringing them out and picking apart each other’s maps,” Brophy said.

The idea was suggested by Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial, a committee co-chairman, who was disappointed at the bickering since the panel unveiled 11 proposals on Friday, five from Republicans and six from Democrats.

The conciliatory tone was in sharp contrast to what transpired over the past few days. Republicans were shocked at the Democratic maps, which put Boulder and Grand Junction in the same district. Democrats were stunned that Republicans drew districts designed to give the GOP five of seven seats.

The committee will meet at 4 p.m. today to try to finalize a map in hopes of meeting a self-imposed Thursday deadline. When the committee was announced in December, legislative leaders said they hoped to avoid a costly special session and court battle, Colorado’s fate for at least three decades.

Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, called the “white map” idea interesting but said a variety of data must be used when drawing districts, from population to voter registration.

“We can draw pretty pictures, but it can be hundreds of thousands of voters off in each district,” she said, after the committee hearing. “That’s one reason the map drawing is typically not done on the fly.”

The committee agreed to try to start drawing the map based on what both Republicans and Democrats agree on, but clearly there are huge differences.

Democratic maps split El Paso County, while Republican maps kept it whole. “Are you guys absolutely married to the idea of splitting El Paso County and Douglas County?” Brophy asked Democrats.

And Republicans said the Western Slope shouldn’t be in a district with metro Boulder County.

“I’ve spent 40 years in the 3rd CD. We’re a different breed of cat,” said Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose.

The meeting started off with some tenseness, with Rep. Dan Pabon, D-Denver, disagreeing with Rep. B.J. Nikkel, R-Loveland, over minority representation in the congressional districts.

And Republicans presented three revised maps but couldn’t explain to Democrats what changes had been made.

“I feel like a kid on Christmas morning waiting to see what the package was,” Pabon said.

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